Carlin Motorsport, legends of single seater racing in the United Kingdom and Europe, has announced its expansion across the Atlantic and the Road to Indy ladder.
Having supported drivers including Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Rosberg in Europe and Will Power, Graham Rahal & Charlie Kimball who find themselves in IndyCar, Trevor Carlin’s squad has decided to take a crack at America itself.
Setting up a base of operations in Poughkeepsie, New York, the new team will focus on Indy Lights – the step below the Verizon IndyCar Series – as the championship steps into new regulations for 2015.
The newest generation of the cars feature more power and less weight, the AER engine – with 45oHP and a 50HP push to pass system – will be alien to the team but the Cooper Tires will be familiar thanks to multiple British F3 titles.
Expansion into the highest rung of the Road to Indy ladder will see them provide a launchpad for drivers wanting to break into the pinnacle of US single seaters. Of the 2014 Indy 500 grid, 19 of them had experience of driving in Lights.
Trevor Carlin said: “We’re extremely excited to be taking the Carlin team to the U.S. and embarking on this new challenge into the Indy Lights series. We’ve had one eye on the U.S. for some time now and the time is right to widen our focus. We’re seeing more and more drivers look across the Atlantic from categories such as Formula 3 and GP2 Series to careers in Indy Lights and IndyCar and it makes sense as a European team to offer that route to our customers.
“While we remain completely focused on our race programmes in Europe, it is also important to take on new challenges and projects that maintain our momentum as a company of people. By offering new opportunities we are able to offer strong team members new goals and challenges internally and retain them within Carlin. By no means do we underestimate the challenge ahead but we believe we have a great team of people to help us be competitive in Indy Lights. We see this as an important new chapter for Carlin and the entire team are excited for the future.”
